I have whooping cough

[Bombero1956]

one of my co-workers has had a cough for the last 2 weeks. At first she was told that she had bronchitis and was give a script for Prednisone, after another week of no improvement she went to another doctor and was told she has whooping cough and started a course of antibiotics. I developed a cough last week that hasn't gone away. After work I went to my own doctor who confirmed my concerns, I too have it and most everybody at the office should be checked out including a few that have babies at home. I feel real badly for her because she's a nice kid who didn't know the severity of her illness and felt she had to be at work. Oh well what's next, mumps?

[crim son]

1. Whooping cough, wow.

Take your meds and rest!

[alarimer]

2. Was she by any chance unvaccinated?

Not that you would know that, I guess. But the anti-vaccine people (or, rather, pro-infectious disease people) are causing outbreaks of measles and other diseases. There has been a pertussis vaccine available for years.

[TZ]

3. They are recommending that adults get revaccinated for pertussis

It seems the Pertussis vaccine wears out in adults. As much as I would like to blame it on the pro-infectious disease people (I love that term), it might actually be a vaccinated (as a child) person that passed this along...

[lizerdbits]

6. CDC adult vaccination schedule

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/adult/07-08/adult-schedule-11x17.pdf

[Bombero1956]

4. I don't know

she's 35. I have to think she was vaccinated as a kid. I'm bummed out because I was going to work the Telethon this weekend. Whooping cough is highly contagious so I don't want to spread it further.

[lizerdbits]

5. I was suspected of having it a few years ago

I was treated for 'walking pneumonia' at the urgent care on a Sunday (shallow breathing so didn't want to wait till Monday to see my regular doc, when I was there my BP was 80/50- yikes). I was coughing for about a week progressing to where I was coughing so hard I was almost throwing up which is one of the symptoms, though not a certain diagnosis. I did get a Tdap booster later since my last vaccination for it was probably as an infant, over 30 years earlier. For adults, the CDC recommends a Td every 10 years, substituting a Tdap for one of those. Most of us get all our shots as kids and that's it, but they don't last a lifetime.

Take your drugs and get some rest!